Pivot Point (Pivot Point, #1)(78)

“Bad news. My cell phone is dead. Let me plug it in and you should be able to use it in a few minutes.”

“Maybe I should just go.”

“It will just take a few minutes. Do you really want to go out there with that freak? I think we should call the Bureau too, when the phone is charged.”

Good idea. “Yeah, okay.”

“The charger is in the kitchen. I’ll be right back.” He walks through a swinging door separating the main room from what I assume is the kitchen.

I double-check the front door’s slider. It’s locked into place. The room is dim, so I turn on a lamp that’s sitting on the end table. Bobby comes back with a bottle of water that he hands to me. “Have a seat.” He points to the couch. I back away from it and opt for the piano bench.

“Where are your parents?” I’m beginning to wonder if they’re ever home.

“They work early, so they’re already asleep.” He points at a clock on the wall, and I see that it’s after ten. Did I really sit in the car waiting for Duke for over an hour?

I take a sip of water and look down at my feet. “You’re his best friend.… How long has he been …” I can’t even finish the thought. I don’t want to know how long my best friend has been betraying me with my boyfriend. “He was using me.”

“He’s getting desperate. He wants to know without a shadow of a doubt which college he’ll do the best at.”

I want to punch something or cry, but I refuse to do either in front of Bobby. “I can’t tell him. Doesn’t he get that?”

“You could. If you extend your ability.”

My head snaps up. “What?”

“Advanced mind control. You should learn it. You could do so much with your gift.”

“And risk losing all my power? No, thanks.” I slide my feet forward, leaving a dark pattern on the carpet. “Is he using her too? Laila?” Is our lifelong friendship ruined over some guy’s inability to pick a college? “Or does he really like her?”

“I’m not sure what he wants from Laila.”

“So is that what Duke does? Teaches people how to extend their abilities?”

He blows air between his lips as if offended. “No. That’s what I do. He’s just one of my students.”

“Why? What’s the point?”

“Each person I teach teaches me a little something as well. It’s like I’m able to gain a little bit of each of their powers. Did you know that before our abilities become stable, they’re volatile? Our powers come out in shorter, stronger bursts than in adults. It’s why they don’t like us attempting to advance our abilities so young. They want them to stabilize first. But it seems the stronger a burst of power, the more I can glean from it.”

An uneasiness creeps into my chest. “You can take people’s powers?”

“Not take them. Just borrow a little bit of them.”

“How? I thought you manipulated mass.”

“Energy, Addie, has a mass. Your energy hangs around you; sometimes it’s as thin as the air, but sometimes it’s dense and malleable.”

I stand. “Your phone is probably charged enough to use by now.”

“Do you know what emotion triggers strong, dense bursts of a person’s energy?”

I drop the bottle, and water splatters the bottom of my jeans. I run and dive for the door, managing to shove the slider across, and push my shoulder against the frame, waiting for it to free me. The palm pad next to the door gives a triple beep accompanied by a red flash.

“No.” I bang on the pad, not knowing the security code.

“I’m surprised you didn’t see this coming, Addie.” He wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me away from the door, relocking it. He’s stronger than I thought possible, considering his average stature. “If you can’t even see your own perilous future, you could really benefit from one of my sessions,” he says calmly.

I remember he said his parents were upstairs asleep, so I let out a scream so loud, he has to clamp a hand over my mouth. “Listen, I can force you to be quiet, like Poison did out there. Is that what you want?”

I shake my head no.

“Good, because I don’t want that either. It limits my ability to do much more than control you.”

When nobody stirs upstairs, I know he lied to me about his parents. We are alone. “So you taught Poison how to extend his ability then? Took a piece of his nervous-system control. Did you give him my phone number?”

He loosens his grip on me, and I slide to the floor. He doesn’t answer my questions.

“What do you want from me?”

“I thought I made that obvious. I would like just a little piece of your Clairvoyance. I have no idea how it will enhance my ability, but I know it will.”

“You’re messing with things you shouldn’t. What if you damage your mind?”

“How sweet of you to worry.” He stands above me and runs his hand down my hair, then takes the dyed blue chunk between two fingers. “Let’s get started, shall we?” He pulls on my hair until I stand.

“And then what?”

“And then I either convince you this never happened, or you become too sad to go on.”